WTFOMGBBQSPARERIBS!

Well, to be reasonable, it's just an extension of, "spelling and grammar don't strictly matter as long as the content is meaninful and understandable." This has been the literal policy on US standardized exams for a while, although I've been told by exam graders that they DO take spelling and grammar into account.

"spelling and grammar don't strictly matter as long as the content is meaninful and understandable."

Ugh. I hate that. It does such a disservice to the students. When they get jobs in the real world, sending a memo to the CEO that says "CU @ teh mtg" will get your ass canned.

Haque stressed that in some exams, including English, text abbreviations would be penalized.

Would be, or would not be? It says would be. As it stands, this seems to me to be a beat up. Markers are allowed to admit that "u r wrong" is English, but penalize it for being crap English.

What's the story?

My theory is in a few generations we're actually going to be speaking in textspeak or at New York Post headline-speak, so why not be in the vanguard, huh?

Yeah, i assume they mean that it will be allowed in, I dunno, chemistry exams for example, but not English exams.

Which does does a disservice to the English exam, in my opinion.

My theory is in a few generations we're actually going to be speaking in textspeak

dblplsgood kthxbye.

Yeah, i assume they mean that it will be allowed in, I dunno, chemistry exams

ChemSpeak, anyone? Cu LaTeRe HoAmIEs.

Break out the guns, this cannot be allowed to continue. In a couple of generations, kids will be born with lightening-fast thumbs that have smaller, pointier tips, ideal for moving efficiently over a mobile phone keypad. You wait and see.

When they get jobs in the real world, sending a memo to the CEO that says "CU @ teh mtg" will get your ass canned.

I dunno, that would be considered relatively eloquent in most of the places I've worked. At least it makes sense grammatically.

dblplsgood kthxbye.

I don't speak txt... I only know one sentence:

hirez pix plz kthxbai :)

Why should I even have to write anything?

Or articulate whole words out loud?

What if I just grunted and gestured in a way that "clearly show[ed] the required understanding"? Could I still get credit for that?

*ughs affirmatively*

How do I ask for a beer in txt?

What depressing news.

And here I was thinking that Godzone was one of the last bastions of common sense in the world. As has alrady been mentioned, this whole dumbing down of language requirements academically continues to ignore a simple, basic fact - if you can't string words together with at least rudimentary English in them, YOU CAN'T GET A DECENT FUCKING JOB!!! In almost all jobs, you need basic literacy skills to move beyond entry-level and employers are starting to realise that the money they save by hiring younger workers is sucked up by having to teach them how to write in English. Meanwhile, in the real world, I still get reports sent back to me for misplaced commas.